“1. Rubio: “I would vote against anything that grants amnesty because I think it destroys your ability to enforce the existing law and I think it’s unfair to the people who are standing in line and waiting to come in legally. I would vote against anything that has amnesty in it.” Erick Erickson

Full interview at:

“On Monday at 5:30pm, the United States Senate will vote on the most sweeping immigration reform proposal it has considered in almost 3 decades – and it will do so having only seen the nearly 1200 pages of text for approximately 72 hours. Americans – including myself, my fellow senators and our staffs – are still trying to figure out exactly what is in the new Schumer-Corker-Hoeven ‘deal.’

“Sound familiar? Pass it to find out what’s in it? Reminiscent of Obamacare, the lengthy amendment to replace the Gang of 8’s original bill was crafted behind closed doors and introduced late on Friday, after many members had left town. In the 2007 immigration debate, close to 50 amendments were considered. But this year, we have only debated 9 – with some of us being completely shut out.

“Given only a weekend to review the language, we will now vote on whether to end a debate that never really began. . .”

2000: President Bill Clinton and British prime minister Tony Blair announced that scientists had completed the first rough map of the human genetic code. (Bennett & Cribb, 2010)

David Deptula, WSJ: “America’s No-Fly Zones Are Already in Place”

Thx Ted,

“The budget sequester has idled U.S. military aircraft and crews across the country, with dangerous implications.

“There has been much talk lately in Washington about establishing a no-fly zone in Syria. You don’t hear about the no-fly zones that are already up and running—over the United States. Where in the U.S.? Over places like Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the Air Force’s premier combat training range; and over Naval Air Stations Oceana in Virginia and China Lake in California, affecting Navy and Marine Corps aviation. Then there are the no-fly zones over Seymour Johnson AFB Goldsboro, N.C., the home of an F-15E fighter wing; Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah, home to F-16 fighters; and Ellsworth AFB, S.D., the home of B-1 bombers that provide America global reach and power.

“Those and others are no-fly zones because Congress has legislated, through budget sequestration, the shutdown of major air capabilities of the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Military spending is scheduled to be cut by $492 billion over 10 years, with $52 billion in mandatory, across-the-board reductions coming next year.

“But the $42 billion axed from the military in 2013 is already damaging America’s combat readiness—and therefore its security . . .”

“I cannot recall, in the last five years, Barack Obama ever identifying the Iranians, Hezbollah, or the late Hugo Chavez as among our “enemies,” in the fashion that he once urged Latino leaders to punish conservatives at the polls: “We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.” If only the president would treat those who don’t like the United States in the same manner that he does those who do, he might bring great clarity to his now listless foreign policy. Indeed, why waste his rich vocabulary of teleprompted invective on fellow Americans, when there is an entire world out there that wishes the United States ill?

“Imagine if Obama declaimed of the Iranians in Tehran that “those aren’t the kinds of folks who represent our core American values,” in the manner he once attacked John McCain for calling for border security in 2008. Could not a worldly Obama at least go after the intolerant Saudis for spreading Wahhabi-hatred worldwide and for sending subsidies to radical Sunni terrorists, in the detailed way he once deconstructed rural conservative voters of Pennsylvania? He might have taken apart these dogmatic religious absolutists in the following manner: “It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” All such invective seems to sum up current Saudi society far better than it does the people of Pennsylvania. Could not the president finish by noting that their madrassas encourage divisions and discourage cooperation, just as he boldly lectured an Irish audience about the problems with Catholic parochial schools?

“As far as these hyper-rich Persian Gulf sheikdoms go, could not the fearless Obama urge these “fat cats” to share their riches with poorer countries, in the manner he once sermonized to Americans in no uncertain terms: ‘I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody’? . . .”

Goodman & Kotlikoff, WSJ: “Medicare by the Scary Numbers”

Thx Ted,

“. . . In their report, the trustees acknowledge that current law envisages dramatic reductions in future Medicare outlays which may be “difficult to sustain.” The president’s new budget also paints a rosy picture of Medicare’s present and future finances.

Yet even with these unrealistic assumptions about Medicare costs, the future looks bleak. The unfunded liability in Medicare, the trustees tell us, is $34 trillion over the next 75 years.

“Looking indefinitely into the future, the unfunded liability is $43 trillion—almost three times the size of today’s economy. Based on more plausible assumptions, such as those reflected in the “alternative” scenario for Medicare produced by the Congressional Budget Office in June 2012, the long-term shortfall is more than $100 trillion.

“Take one source of optimism that the trustees are compelled to transmit in their latest report. Its predicted expenditures are based on the assumption built into the law that next Jan. 1 there will be a 25% decrease in the fees that Medicare pays doctors. That means that every doctor in America who participates in Medicare will take a 25% pay cut. . .”

“Here’s a sentence that might give President Obama pause as he tries to make executive action on energy a reasonable substitute for inaction in Congress: ‘Americans are relatively unconcerned about global climate change.’

“That’s the conclusion of a report on global policy attitudes released by the Pew Research Center on the eve of an Obama speech Tuesday at Georgetown University. Pew found that only 40 percent of Americans see climate change as a global risk. Americans are more worried about nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea, Islamic extremism, and the instability of international financial institutions than they are about the effects of a changing planet.

“It falls to the president, then, to get more Americans interested, or to resign himself to an audience of core supporters who already agree with him. . . “

“It is remarkable that when the scientific consensus on global warming is at its weakest state in years, President Barack Obama has decided to make the issue a new focus of his troubled presidency — and, indeed, that he intends to use the issue as the launching pad for a radical extension of federal power even more significant than his health-care takeover.

“President Obama campaigned as a man of science, though he himself has no scientific training. He lambasted his critics as being anti-science Luddites and even enjoyed an endorsement from Bill Nye the Science Guy, who allowed his name to be associated with dishonest and unfair attacks on Republicans. Barack Obama, of course, is not a science guy. For example, he has flattered far-left conspiracy theories about common vaccinations, saying, ‘The science right now is inconclusive,’ which is a position about as scientifically defensible as claiming that the dinosaurs went extinct because Fred Flintstone ordered too many bronto-burgers.

“Global warming, contrary to the predictions of the best climate models, is not accelerating. It is slowing, and some estimates show it having been reversed. . .”

Jason Howerton, The Blaze: “AP Sources: A Peek into President Obama’s Aggressive National Climate Change Plan”

“. . . In a major speech Tuesday at Georgetown University, Obama will announce that he’s directing his administration to allow enough renewables on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the capacity from solar, wind and geothermal projects on federal property. He’ll also say the U.S. will significantly expand production of renewable energy on low-income housing sites, according to five individuals briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to discuss it publicly ahead of Obama’s announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The far-reaching plan marks Obama’s most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama’s high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.

“In taking action on his own – none of the steps Obama will announce Tuesday require congressional approval – Obama is also signaling he will no longer wait for lawmakers to act on climate change, and instead will seek ways to work around them.”

SCOTUS . . .

“The Supreme Court decision Tuesday striking down a key prlank of the Voting Rights Act dramatically eases the way for states to push through stricter voting laws — and the flurry of action could reverberate into 2014 and beyond.

“Some states such as Texas moved within hours of the landmark ruling to implement so-called voter ID laws — requiring voters to show valid identification before they can cast ballots — that had been on hold. Others, such as swing state North Carolina, are expected to pass legislation this year that could complicate Democrats’ chances in 2014 midterm elections. . .

“The high court’s Tuesday decision invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act requiring that some or all areas in 15 states get advance clearance from the Department of Justice before any voting changes can go into effect. New laws can still be contested under another provision of the VRA, but states no longer carry the burden of proving upfront that their laws don’t discriminate.

“In a decision that marks the end of a major civil rights-era reform, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the federal government can no longer force states and jurisdictions with a long-past history of voting discrimination to have to get federal approval for all of their voting laws.

“The 5-4 ruling rewrites a key tool of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which for five decades has given the federal government unprecedented say in everything from how some states draw their congressional maps to where they place polling locations.

“But beneath the legal ruling is a broader social significance, with the justices saying that past discrimination cannot be perpetually held against a state.

“The Fifteenth Amendment commands that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color, and it gives Congress the power to enforce that command. The amendment is not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure a better future,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.

“The Supreme Court on Monday sent a major affirmative action case back to the lower courts to be reheard, ducking the chance to rewrite discrimination laws and instead affirming the current state of law for racial preferences, saying they can be used for admissions but only if there is a compelling need and no other remedy works.

“Some legal analysts had predicted the court would use the case from the University of Texas at Austin to issue a broad ruling that would overturn affirmative action policies, but the 7-1 ruling was narrow in scope and didn’t overturn any current laws or court precedents.

“Both sides in the affirmative action debate claimed victory, with supporters of preferences saying the court reaffirmed their use while opponents said sending the case back to be reheard under stricter standards shows the justices are leaning toward ending special treatment. . .”

SNOWDEN . . .

Investors: “Snowden’s Embarrassment of U.S. Is a Window into Our Loss of Power”

“Barack Obama, supposedly a foreign policy “super genius,” promised to negotiate terrorist states such as Iran into submission. Instead, our shattered global influence can’t even extradite a fugitive out of Hong Kong.

“Between Hong Kong’s aggressive commitment to political freedom, its Beijing overseers’ shrewd exploitation of a fat opportunity to undermine U.S. prestige, and Obama administration incompetence, America was humiliated over the weekend in a pathetic attempt to have Edward Snowden extradited for his role in revealing the extent of National Security Agency domestic surveillance.

“The island of nearly pure capitalism deftly waited a couple of days before announcing that Obama’s Justice Department had botched its extradition request, then Hong Kong dropped Snowden like a hot won-ton onto a Moscow-bound Aeroflot flight.

“A flabbergasted media wondered why John Kerry’s State Department hadn’t revoked Snowden’s passport immediately after federal charges were filed, and why no “red notice” request was sent to Interpol — then realized it was because Kerry’s predecessor, future presidential choice Hillary Clinton, wasn’t there to provide her superb Benghazi-caliber management skills.

Russia is defying America by granting Edward Snowden, who exposed some of the most classified secrets of our government, safe haven as he continues to elude capture. As Reuters reports:

“Washington was stung by Russian defiance… The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged ‘strong objections’ to Hong Kong and China for letting him go. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to India that it would be “deeply troubling” if Moscow defied the United States over Snowden, and said the fugitive “places himself above the law, having betrayed his country”. But the Russian government ignored the appeal and President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary denied any knowledge of Snowden’s movements. Asked if Snowden had spoken to the Russian authorities, [Dmitry] Peskov said: “Overall, we have no information about him.”

“This comes on top of Russia defying America’s wishes in the Syrian civil war, with Russia once again reasserting its presence in the Middle East after having been essentially expelled from there in the 1970s (a product of Henry Kissinger’s masterful diplomacy). . .”

IRS . . .

Alan Fram, AP: “Documents show IRS also screened liberal groups”

“. . . The IRS document said an investigation into why specific terms were included was still underway. It blamed the continued use of inappropriate criteria by screeners on “a lapse in judgment” by the agency’s former top officials. The document did not name the officials, but many top leaders have been replaced.

“Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released 15 lists of terms that the IRS agency used and has provided to congressional investigators. Some of the lists, which evolved over time, used the terms ‘Progressive’ and ‘Tea Party’ and others including ‘Medical Marijuana,’ ‘Occupied Territory Advocacy,’ ‘Healthcare legislation,’ ‘Newspaper Entities’ and ‘Paying National Debt.’

“The lists were dated between August 2010 and April 2013 — the month before the IRS targeting of conservative groups was revealed. . . “

“A November 2010 version of the list obtained by National Review Online, however, suggests that while the list did contain the word “progressive,” screeners were in fact instructed to treat ‘progressive’ groups differently from ‘tea party’ groups. Whereas screeners were merely alerted that a designation of 501(c)(3) status ‘may not be appropriate’ for applications containing the word ‘progressive’ – 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from conducting any political activities – they were told to send those of tea-party groups off IRS higher-ups for further scrutiny.

“That means the applications of progressive groups could be approved on the spot by line agents, while those of tea-party groups could not. Furthermore, the November 2010 list noted that tea-party cases were ‘currently being coordinated with EOT,’ which stands for Exempt Organizations Technical, a group of tax lawyers in Washington, D.C. Those of progressive groups were not. . .”

“Our government appears out of control. Worse, our various political biases aren’t letting us see the big picture. House committees recently held hearings featuring IRS officials and leaders of six organizations whose applications for tax-exempt status were stalled by the IRS. The committee members were clearly split on the seriousness of the case, with Republicans decrying the IRS’s actions and Democrats tending to brush it all aside as simply managerial incompetence.

We can’t let this devolve into a purely political issue. This is not a matter of Republicans against Democrats. Viewing it that way overlooks the real issue, which affects all Americans, regardless of political affiliation: an agency drunk on power and devoid of common sense. We shake our heads at foolish IRS spending on lavish conferences with a Star Trek parody video, spending $17,000 on an artist speaker, and unnecessary commissions to outside event planners. Then we recently learned that over 200 IRS employees are paid by taxpayers to work full time for the union representing IRS employees. And this is not unique to the IRS.

BENGHAZI . . .

Investors: “Benghazi Creeps Closer To Hillary Clinton”

“Scandal: The decision to place U.S. personnel in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the highest levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame over the Sept. 11 attack.

“An indication that the Orwellian-named Accountability Review Board (ARB) investigating the terrorist attack on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, was an effort not to assign responsibility for the disaster but to enable those responsible to escape blame is the fact that ARB never bothered to interview the likes of Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy.

“ARB co-chair Thomas Pickering told CBS’ Bob Schieffer on ‘Face the Nation’ in May that he and his colleagues had ample opportunity to question Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself but concluded that conducting an interview with her was not necessary.

“The House Republican chairman investigating last year’s terror attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, has subpoenaed four State Department officials, saying the department was stalling on efforts to interview them.

“In a statement Monday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa of California said the four led offices where the State Department’s report into the attack, called an Accountability Review Board, had found that deficiencies contributed to a lack of security.

“The board found that State Department leaders in Washington allowed the temporary facility in Benghazi to be occupied even though it did not meet security standards and then ignored pleas for additional security from diplomats on the ground. . .”

IMMIGRATION . . .

Erick Erickson, Red State: “The Stories They Told”

“Republicans (and red state Democrats) used to tell voters amazing things about their opposition to amnesty. Then they got elected and supported legislation that actually weakens border security and puts people on a path not just to legalization, but to citizenship, before ever securing our borders. . . “

“The immigration-reform proposal wending its way through the Senate is tearing the Republican party to pieces. Poor Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), once the golden boy of the Tea Party and the conservative movement, is being treated like a guy who wants to leave a gang but must submit to a group beating first.

“But Rubio is simply the latest javelin catcher in the Right’s immigration Olympiad. Attention will soon shift to House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). House conservatives are poised to block out the sun with arrows aimed at him if he moves the bill without a majority of GOP support.

“Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just released a TV ad campaign to promote immigration reform that features Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.), even though Paul has come out against the legislation because it doesn’t include his border-security requirements. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board — always a passionate supporter of maximizing immigration — seems on the verge of a collective aneurysm as it deals with what it sees as a Republican party giving in to nativist madness.

“By comparison, while the GOP increasingly looks like the fight scene in the movie Anchorman, the Democrats under New York senator Charles Schumer’s leadership look like Snow White’s dwarfs, whistling while they work. . .”

“Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has the most influence among conservative voters in Republican primaries, told Breitbart News on Tuesday that Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) should be primaried for their support of the Senate’s immigration bill.

“Conservatives are getting ready for the 2014 and 2016 primaries. We have long memories, and there will be consequences for those who break campaign promises and vote for this amnesty bill,” Palin told Breitbart News. “Competition makes everyone work harder, be better, and be held accountable. This applies to politics, too. No one is ‘entitled’ to anything.”

“She continued, “Rigorous debate in competitive primaries allows candidates the opportunity to explain their flip-flops. So think of contested primaries as a win-win for politicians and their voters. . .”

“. . . no “important legislation” should be 100 pages long, much less 1,200 (or the even more mind-boggling girth of monstrosities like Obamacare). The United States Constitution is about 4,500 words long — outfits like Cato and Heritage publish it in small pamphlets that can be read in a few minutes. Nowadays, not only are the bills so gargantuan that no one could conceivably master them and predict their consequences; each page produces even more pages of regulations. They can’t even be lifted, much less digested.

“You cannot have a functioning democratic republic when the laws are so voluminous no one can know what the law is. And that is especially the case when (a) the rationale for passing new laws — according to “reform” proponents like Senator Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan — is that we don’t enforce the laws currently on the books; (b) key parts of legislation consist of commitments to do what previously enacted law already commands; and (c) the president, notwithstanding his oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, claims the power to refrain from enforcing whatever laws he disapproves of. Washington has made a farce of the legislative process and of the once proud boast that we are ‘a nation of laws not men. . .’”

“Senators voted Monday to add 20,000 more Border Patrol agents to the southwestern border and require a total of 700 miles of fencing within a decade, clearing the way for the broad immigration bill to pass the chamber this week — but opening deep divisions within the Republican Party.

In the 67-27 vote, 15 Republicans joined Democrats in backing the manpower and infrastructure, but the other Senate Republicans balked, saying the enhancements were chimerical and shouldn’t be used to cover over what they argued was a bad bill that doesn’t do enough to enforce the laws and stop another wave of illegal immigration

“. . . Rubio is leading a comprehensive immigration reform effort and advocating a path to citizenship for people who knowingly entered the United States illegally. To travel that path, he stresses, the border must be secured and illegal immigrants in the U.S. must “get in the back of the line, pay a fine, pay taxes.”

“Does that sound familiar? Any reasonable reading of Rubio’s positions then and now leads to the conclusion that he has executed a flip-flop of Romneyesque proportions. Rubio’s flip-flop is even worse politically. While Romney switched to a position that was popular with the Republican base, Rubio has done just the opposite. . .”

PA . . .

“HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania state budget may deliver some good news for family-owned businesses.

“Eliminating the inheritance tax for small businesses could be part of the 2013-2014 budget negotiations now ongoing in the statehouse, with a unanimous vote from the House of Representatives and a strong supporter leading discussions in the Senate.

“Pennsylvania Democrats have come out swinging early and often this year as the party aggressively mounts a campaign to retake the governorship in the 2014 cycle with U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz perhaps the strongest of many declared candidates seeking to upend the seemingly vulnerable Tom Corbett.

“A much bigger challenge for the party, however, is to recapture some of the U.S. House seats lost in recent cycles with redistricting (and perhaps a few underachieving campaigns) resulting in the party’s worst performance in congressional races in a presidential cycle since before the Great Depression. . .”

“Simply put, the answer is no. Fundamentally, there is no difference between subsidizing natural gas vehicles or electric vehicles (or windmills, or solar panels, etc.). However, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is advancing legislation, known as Marcellus Works, which would “incentivize” private companies to purchase natural gas vehicles. “Furthermore, several of the bills would issue grants to transit agencies or issue loans for the purchase of natural gas buses directly via tax dollars. While well intentioned, this legislation is a perfect example of government picking winners and losers.

“Many of the same Republicans who are supporting this legislation would bristle (and rightly so) at the idea of using tax dollars to subsidize “alternative” energy projects. Yet somehow they are of the mistaken impression that using tax dollars to benefit natural gas vehicles is somehow acceptable. The logic of the Marcellus Works legislation is “By creating incentives to use that natural gas, we will increase demand….” Doesn’t that sound a lot like interfering with the free market? . . .”

END NOTES . . .

Rushbo: OBAMA IS WINNING and transforming the country

Thx Bob!

“I said, “He’s getting everything he wants. He’s transforming this country in ways that no one ever thought possible. He is succeeding at every turn, and he has a scandal pop up at just the right time every moment some big transformation’s taking place so that we’re all distracted. Everything the guy wants is happening one way or the other, sooner than later, later than sooner. Whatever. Nobody’s stopping Obama. Nobody’s stopping the Democrats. They’re getting everything they want.”

AK 47 or an AR 15?

Erick Erickson, Red State: “Why America Hates Washington”

“. . . Listen to the rhetoric in Washington, DC and you learn a few things.

– With a few exceptions, they’re all mostly cool with the NSA spying on ordinary Americans.

– Congress thinks immigration reform that will give immigrants preferential hiring status to existing Americans is the most important thing ever.

– The President thinks shutting down coal power plants is the most important thing ever.

– The IRS is out of control and Congress would rather bribe each other to pass immigration plans than look into it.

– Oh, and the rest of America just wants a FREAKING JOB!

There is a massive disconnect between the chattering classes and politicos of Washington and New York and the rest of America. While most Americans are struggling to get ahead, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington act as though they are managing our decline . . .

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CATS is a conservative publication, almost free of advertising, and has appeared at least three times per week for the last six years. It consists of abstracts from the wider press, links to original sources, and sometimes, remarks by Jim Brody.